Article written by Marketing Team
How is FinTech influencing fiduciaries?
Fiduciary companies have had no choice but to take the leap into digitalisation to meet their clients’ growing expectations. Document exchange, invoice management and financial transparency now have to happen in real time. At Synergix, this transformation led very early on to the development of an in-house platform, IODD, designed to empower clients and make their day-to-day accounting run more smoothly.
FinTech, a groundswell in the financial world
Can fiduciary companies still do without FinTech? Can they turn a deaf ear to the wave of digitalisation sweeping through the financial world? Payment transactions, lending, fundraising, investment management: in just a few years, FinTech companies have revolutionised many sectors, in particular by making cash transfers instant and crowdfunding operations more transparent.
In Switzerland, according to the Swiss FinTech Map, there were more than 400 start-ups in 2024, such as Yuh or Twint. Through projects developed together with financial institutions, they use their capacity for innovation to improve the customer experience, optimise working methods and strengthen cybersecurity.
More agility and productivity in financial management
Curiously, fiduciaries long remained wary of FinTech: in their view, these emerging companies and their technological solutions were seen more as competitors challenging well-established business models and threatening their very existence. Fortunately, mindsets have changed, and client expectations have evolved alongside rapid digitalisation.
SMEs now want to manage everything on a single platform: from document exchange to invoice tracking. In these times of economic uncertainty, with an ever stronger franc against the euro and an unstable geopolitical situation, fiduciaries’ clients expect agility and productivity in the management of their finances.
IODD, a platform to optimise exchanges with clients
“There are three main reasons that could lead fiduciaries not to take the leap into digitalisation,” explains Julie Pignier, COO of Synergix. “A generational issue, a lack of skills or a lack of financial resources.”
Today, fiduciary companies have no choice if they want to meet their clients’ needs: they must offer digital solutions that make exchanges easier and allow data to be used more quickly.
Founded by Enrico Chincarini in 2001, Synergix quickly grasped the full potential of digitalising its ecosystem. With his skills and pioneering vision of the profession, Jérôme Chincarini, the founder’s eldest son, initiated this technological shift as early as 2009. “We are one of the first fiduciaries in Switzerland to work this way,” says Julie Pignier.
While Synergix uses an accounting system developed by Microsoft to book invoices, the company designed its own platform to optimise exchanges with its clients: IODD.
New features to manage HR
Introduced in 2013, this tool filled a gap, a “black hole” between what was happening in real time at the office and what the client needed to know. With IODD, through an EBICS connection to the largest Swiss banks, clients can access their bank accounts, check their cash position and bank flows, or pay their invoices, without having to call their fiduciary. Each user can log in to the platform with their personal profile and consult the company’s data.
The fact that Synergix owns this system also gives it complete flexibility in how it evolves. “We can develop the features we need, based on our clients’ feedback,” notes Julie Pignier.
Recently, the fiduciary rolled out an HR module that offers companies several features: absence management, access to salary certificates and payslips. Having all these documents on one single platform makes their financial management easier and contributes to their growth and success.
Over the past 12 years, IODD has brought Synergix a great deal: organisation, rigour, but above all better communication with its clients. The platform has also brought flexibility, autonomy and transparency to the companies that rely on its expertise. The days of filling in Excel spreadsheets and juggling sticky notes are long gone.